Grant Thornton senior partner Nigel Savory(2nd left) chairs the panel consisting of managing director of Selesti, Ollie Blackmore and managing director of Norse Commercial Services Limited, Peter Hawes and executive chairman of TEN Group, Dick Palmer at the re-launch of Norfolk Limited, to review the business performance of the countyâ€™s leading companies.
Photo by Simon Finlay.

Launched today at a breakfast event at Norwich City Football Club, the Norfolk Ltd report by financial and business planners Grant Thornton analysed and amalgamated the performance of the county’s leading 100 companies.

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Key highlights were:

Turnover - up 7pc to £5.1bn

Operating profits - down 36pc to £160m

Average salareis - up 10pc to £24k.

The Norfolk Limited survey, which is set to become an annual event, and complements similar studies in Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, and Essex, was based on the latest company accounts available.

Toby Wilson of Grant Thornton’s Norwich office, said: “Like the rest of the UK, Norfolk businesses, including those represented in this report, have had to weather a deep and prolonged downturn in the global economy.

“The county has a depth of economic strength, which lends itself to resilience and flexibility.

However, the launch, which featured a panel discussion with Dick Palmer, executive chairman of TEN Group, Peter Hawes, managing director of Norse Commercial Services, and Ollie Blackmore, managing director of Selesti, also noted how the county has a relatively low number of new start-up businesses compared to other parts of the country, and noted that businesses still had concerns over skills levels and infrastructure.

• Read more analysis of the Norfolk Ltd report in Wednesday’s EDP Business

How can you bring new skills into your business when staff turnover is low and money may be tight? SHAUN LOWTHORPE talks to the Future50 businesses swapping ideas as part of an informal work shadowing programme.